Oklahoma City area was hammered by EF5 tornado in 1999

By CNN Staff

Updated 3:26 PM ET, Tue May 21, 2013

The devastating Oklahoma tornado of 19998 photos

Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999 – Amber Landis walks among the remains of her home in Moore, Oklahoma, which was destroyed by an EF5 tornado on May 3, 1999. Forty-six people were killed in a string of tornadoes that tore through Oklahoma on May 3, 1999, the strongest of which was an EF5 that hit the towns of Moore, Bridge Creek, Newcastle, Midwest City and Del City. Now this section of the country is dealing with a fresh disaster that has eclipsed the 1999 outbreak. Click through the gallery to see more pictures from 1999:

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The devastating Oklahoma tornado of 19998 photos

Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999 – Nan Goines, right, hugs her granddaughter Ashley Thomas, on May 5, 1999, in front of the remains of her home in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

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The devastating Oklahoma tornado of 19998 photos

Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999 – Destroyed homes lie in ruin in a section of Midwest City on May 5, 1999.

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The devastating Oklahoma tornado of 19998 photos

Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999 – Peggy Lipscomb salvages belongings from what is left of her home in southeast Oklahoma City on May 4, 1999, following a series of deadly tornadoes that tore through the state.

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The devastating Oklahoma tornado of 19998 photos

Oklahoma tornadoes of 1999 – Nan Goines reacts as she looks at the remains of her daughter home on May 5, 1999, in Midwest City.

On May 3, 1999, a total of 74 tornadoes pummeled Kansas and Oklahoma, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The states counted a total of 46 dead. Thirty-six died in Oklahoma City.

The strongest tornado, rated a maximum EF5 on the Fujita Tornado Scale, tracked for nearly an hour and a half along a 38-mile path from Chickasha through south Oklahoma City and the suburbs of Bridge Creek, Newcastle, Moore, Midwest City and Del City.

Monday's tornado in Oklahoma city, with a preliminary rating of at least EF4, also struck Moore and Newcastle. Dozens -- some of them elementary school children -- died, authorities said.

The tornado "hit along the same path of the May 3 tornado in 1999," said Gov. Mary Fallin. "It's just hard to believe that something like this could happen again to Moore itself."

"And I think the fact that what we see so far today is going to be very similar if not exceed what we saw in 1999," he said. "But keep in mind, any time there's a loss of life, it's a devastating disaster."

Heather Moore survived both the 1999 and Monday's storms.

"It was very, very similar," Moore told CNN's Piers Morgan. "Cars were turned over, some houses were half gone, some houses were all gone. ... All the trees are gone, all the power lines are gone."

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, who lives in Moore, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer the damage he was seeing on television Monday looked as bad as the 1999 tornado that destroyed more than 1,000 houses in his hometown.

Moore is located between Oklahoma City and Norman -- home to the University of Oklahoma -- on the south side of the metropolitan area.

The second deadliest tornado in the Oklahoma City area occurred on June 12, 1942, with 35 residents killed, according to the National Weather Service.